Everyone knows that the rituals and stories surrounding Saint Nicholas has less to do with the saint and more to do with pagan gods… and there’s good reason for it. Besides the fact that traditions are hard to break, pagan festivities are just plain more fun than going to church.

But one of the reasons why I love mythology is its personification of the world… the world both inside and outside of me.

Many of our Xmas celebrations originated from our Scandinavian and German ancestors, and the yearly visitation and gifts from Odin is one of those that has really grown here in America. But I’m seeing a deeper gem in this tradition…

Linking Santa Claus up with Odin (Odhinn or Woten) isn’t too difficult. Granted, they look quite similar with their long beard and fur coats. In Nordic mythology, the earth is hooked up with the heavens above via a giant tree, Yggdrasil. This tree supported the spinning heavens, that circled the polar star, and like many other cultures, placed this tree as the north pole.

Odin often rode the earth on an eight-legged horse, Sleipnir (sometimes called a goat or deer). But one thing I find fascinating is the fact that in Nordic mythology, the number 9 is magic. Everything revolves in nines. So, I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising to find Santa’s eight reindeer acquire a ninth member (However, I love the interpretation given by Andy, that Rudolph is simply Sleipnir’s “ninth member”).

Giving gifts and presents at the Winter Solstice, when the days are short and the nights are long and dreary, stretches back to the dawn of human existence.

We all know the story of St. Nicholas dropping bags of money down the chimney of a house so that the three daughters could have a dowry (although I could swear the first time I read it, it was an opened window). But Odin has some ties to the chimney as well…

Odin was a fire/sun god (in contrast to his son, Thor being a rain god), but Odin’s illumination could be viewed as somewhat smokey. He was a magician who gave up an eye for knowledge, and any quick perusal of Odin’s characteristics will show you a god that was mysterious and uncertain.

Yes, he gave the gift of inspiration, but this illumination was also considered madness and reserved for seers and poets and their ilk. Interesting… Do you think that the present that Santa really wants to give us is not in the letter we gave him? Some deeper wisdom from the springs of our subconscious? Or is it just that EZ Bake Oven. Yeah, that’s what I think too.